Dave--
Some tips for getting drivers to work in Vista:
Officially MSFT announced they will instead use the pathetic Upgrade Advisor
instead of a "compatibility list."
Here is an example of Brad Goldberg, Microsoft's general manager for Windows
client product management needing badly to spend some time in a basic
computer course in Seattle for elementary school students, so that Goldberg
sitting in his office, could brose to a site administered by MSN Live.
Goldberg states there are plans for no list and that the always wrong
Upgrade Advisor (wow) is their substitute. It's not even close. That list
is a simple attempt to pimp hardware sales or if that's not Microsoft's
intention with the so-called Upgrade Advisor, then whomever was involved
with it is the most incompetent team and PM on the planet. The Vista
Upgrade Advisor will consistently say hardware won't work that will work
perfectly in Vista. I think the Vista Upgrade Advisor is presumptious
calling itself any kind of advisor ---it if's making its false statements to
US government entities MSFT General Counsel VP Brad Smith should consider
how many times MSFT is violating 18USC 1001--the false statement to a branch
of government code section:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=143
After having made this statement, Brad Goldberg, MSFT's general manager for
the Windows client has excluded this site, which also comes from the same
place he works, the Redmond campus:
https://winqual.microsoft.com/HCL/Default.aspx
Lists
1)
https://winqual.microsoft.com/HCL/Default.aspx
2)
http://www.iexbeta.com/wiki/index.php/Windows_Vista_Software_Compatibility_List
Many other good ones are spring up on Vista sites.
Driver Tip for stubborn drivers
1) Whatever wizard you are using, Hardware, Update Driver, New Printer, make
sure you brose to location where the driver folder is or you can hit the
"have disc" button which really is saying you have a location for the
driver--it does not literally need to be media.
2) Any company that is dragging on making drivers compatible with Vista, is
going to tell you they don't have drivers yet. What they will not tell you
is whether the drivers they do have for XP will work in Vista. You have to
try them and see. In general "tech support" for these companies will use
any excuse possible not to talk about an OS that is not released to the
public yet, and they may have been ordered to.
In the case 3rd parties who are ass dragging, MSFT Technet Webcasts have now
openly indicted the ass dragging as ass dragging. Some of those 19,500
drivers loaded with the Vista DVD try to remedy that ass dragging by 3rd
party driver manufacturers and device makers.
Brother Printer drivers for some printers are supplied in Vista. Brother is
ass dragging. Yet those drivers all came from Brother to MSFT. Brother is
saying they may have less functionality than drivers they put out laster.
3) Mustek and most companies aren't likely to answer the question. They are
likely to decline to talk about the any support for Vista. You can answer
the question by trying their latest driver or drivers in Vista. They may
work.
For example, Brother Printers has no Vista drivers yet. But the XP Brother
driver will wok and MSFT has a driver in Vista for it that you can try to
use as Eric Denker has suggested.
Good luck,
CH
